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Apple TV

Tom wants to know if Leo is going to buy any new Apple products soon. Leo says he has learned to wait, and he's been told that Apple will be announcing new iPhones next month. He's also heard rumors of two new iPads, based on registration in the EU for new iPads. They will likely be low-cost iPads. But Leo's favorite rumor is a new MacBook Pro without the butterfly keyboard, which Apple is believed to of abandoned in favor of older scissor-style keys. If it happens, it'll be in October and he'll be buying it. So Leo advises waiting until at least next month.

David wants to know how he can project his mobile device to a portrait sized monitor. He wants the monitor to have the same aspect ratio as the phone. Leo says that they tried to do that at TWiT, and you can, but it's quite expensive. One solution is to buy the Apple XDR monitor for $5K and the $1,000 stand. But there are other options out there. David has a monitor that will flip to portrait. Leo says that most operating systems can tell when the aspect ratio changes and adjusts. Apple has an emulator mode, where you can run an app on a Mac and it will look like it's on a phone.

Neil bought a new 50" Samsung U7100 50" 4K TV. He bought a sound bar and an Apple TV to go with it, and it's all controlled by the Logitech Harmony Hub. Every time he turns on the Hub, however, the TV wants to take over with its smart TV menu, not the Apple TV menu. Leo says that's super annoying. Leo suggests that the Hub is sending a command that the TV is misinterpreting.

Rob can't seem to get Dolby Atmos out of his TV. Leo says that most TVs don't support Dolby Atmos, so he may need to get a new player and receiver that supports it. He'll also have to have enough speakers, including two "up firing" speaks in order to get Atmos at Home. The latest Apple TV just had Atmos at Home enabled. Roku's higher end players also support it. Netflix has a list of streaming devices supporting Atmos here.

Mike has a first generation Apple TV and he wants to put all his movies on it, but Apple quit supporting it. What can he do? Leo says that if he can launch the Apple Store, he should be OK. But if it isn't recognizing the device, then Apple may have broken connectivity. He should try and do a restore from scratch.

Neil misses the WIndows Phone. Leo says that unfortunately, Apple and Android are so dominant, that Windows being a distant third with no shot of gaining any marketshare was a reason that Microsoft left the mobile phone category altogether. The same is pretty much true with Blackberry, which is now just another model of the Android OS.

Tim has an iPhone 6S and when hooking it up to his smart TV, nothing happens. The TV says it has the signal, but nothing happens. It has worked in the past. Leo says that it sounds like HDCP may be the issue. That's digital copy protection. Everything in the chain has to be HDCP compliant to work. But that should only be an issue if he's watching YouTube or a movie. It should work with photos and home videos no problem. Tim says a friend's iPhone works though. Leo says it sounds like an iOS issue, then.

Sandy wants to watch video from her laptop on her TV. Leo says that most laptops have an HDMI port and she can connect it directly. She says it won't work at home, but it will at work. Leo says the Apple AirPort is Wi-Fi, so she can connect wirelessly through the AirPort and then direct it to her TV via DNLA, if her TV supports Wi-Fi. She can connect via Wi-Fi and then set up her Sony TV to connect to the Wi-Fi as well. Once both devices are connected by the AirPort, she'll be able to do it.

Anthony wants to know what the advantage is of getting an Apple TV if all the modern TVs are so-called "smart" TVs? Rich says that apps are always better, and updated more on a dedicated device like the Apple TV. Smart TVs, on the other hand, rarely get updated, if ever. TV makers are in the TV business, not the app development business. So Apple TV has that advantage.

Jonathan wants to know how he can find his Apple TV remote. He's frustrated because he loses it all the time. Rich says it's almost always in a seat cushion. The good thing is that iOS 11 supports the Apple TV remote natively, so if he's installed iOS 11, he'll be able to control his Apple TV from Control Center on his phone.